We present the list of winners of the Docs Port Incheon 2016 that took place from November 4th – 6th in Incheon, South Korea.

Awards
Best Korean Project

My Daughter’s Toe Walking by Kwon Woo-jung – South Korea | 2017 – 100 min.
Producer: Kim Ji-hyun | Production Status: Production
Awarded with 10,000,000 KRW

I, documentary filmmaker and mother of a 5-year-old daughter, am desperate to find an answer to my daughter’s toe-walking, which has given me endless guilt and anxiety since her birth. In the hope that they can understand my complicated feelings more than anybody else, I approach the mothers of disabled children with a camera. I conduct interviews of them. I make podcasts with them. I even make a theatrical play with and for them. But their invaluable confessions and consolations stay with me only for a moment. Deep in my heart, I still whisper to myself “what if my daughter didn’t walk on her toes…” After completing the film, will I be able to accept and face my child’s toe walking and the changes it implies for me for what they are?

Best Asian Project

Singing From Behind The Bars by Dao Thanh Hung – Vietnam | 2016 – 60 min.
Producer: Pham Phuong Thao | Production Status: Pre-Production
Awarded with 10,000,000 KRW

This is the story about a reality in Vietnam, where bird-playing is considered an elegant interest of the citizen. This has led to the decline in number of birds in the wild. There are 3 main characters: Hong Ky is a retired stage actor, who found the very first bird-playing club in Hanoi. He is famous in the bird-player community for more than 20 years of experience. However, he is now also “retired” from it since he has realized it is not right to keep the birds inside the cages. – Hoang Minh Quang is a young bird-player, who owns hundreds of precious birds and won a lot of bird competitions. He is so proud of his birds and can talk about them all day long. – Truong Cam is the Head of a forest ranger station in Bach Ma National Forest, located in Hue. He used to catch and trade birds for a living when he was young. One time he got caught, and has changed since then. From a young ignorant illegal bird hunter, he was recruited to the ranger team and has helped scientists to locate some rare bird species. He is now carrying on doing his protecting work and spreading knowledge for visitors in Bach Ma Forest. This film reflects the contrast between the city and the forest; and among the characters. While the city is noisy with bird trade market, it is rare to see a bird or hear them singing in the forest. Although all the characters love birds, one wants to keep them for their own, the others want to set them free. Want to set them free.

Best Rough Cut Project

Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno by Jung Yoon-suk – South Korea | 2016 – 120 min
Producer: Jo Sona | Production Status: Post-Production (50%)
Awarded with 10,000,000 KRW

Bassist Jang Sung-geon (age 28) and drummer Kwon Yong-man (age 30) met online in 2010 and formed a band called Bamseom Pirates with the intention of producing a kind of music befitting for a society in which everyone blindly pursues financial gain. During their first gig they performed one hundred songs in ten minutes and the crowd responded enthusiastically. Gradually, Bamseom Pirates gained fame. Then one day when they performed at a protest against a forced eviction, thugs hired by developers damaged their instruments. Kwon and Jang were outraged by it. Soon after, Park Jung-geun, a good friend of Bamseom Pirates who produced the band’s album, was arrested for violating the National Security Law and their album Seoul Inferno was presented as evidence and Kwon attended the trial as a witness.

Docu Spirit Award (K-Pitch)

The Con Artists by Red Choi – South Korea | 2017 – 100 min.
Producer: Red Choi | Production Status: Pre-Production
Awarded with 7,000,000 KRW

On the presidential election day of Republic of Korea in 2012. Two rival candidates, PARK Gun-hye and MOON Jae-in compete in a neck and neck race. At 8:45PM, KBS announces that candidate Park is most likely to win the race. As the counting nears the end around midnight, Park leads the race with 51.7% of the votes. Many observers presume no change of the situation and leave the counting facilities. Between 00:58AM and 04:43AM, however, an odd phenomenon occurs. Candidate Moon starts gaining more votes than Park throughout the country. This phenomenon is observed even in the counties that have been considered as Park’s home grounds. Accordingly the percentage of the votes for Park starts dropping slightly. When the race is over, Park ends up becoming the President-elect with 51.6% of the votes. Ironically, 516 (May 16) is the date that Park’s father, PARK Chung-hee carried out a military coup d’etat to seize the power in 1961. Could this be a sheer coincidence? What happened during these three hours and forty-five minutes? The rule No. 1 of Forensic Science says otherwise; ‘Every contact leaves a trace.’ This film traces back the contacts that might have been made on this very election day.

Docu Spirit Award (A-Pitch)

A Letter to Jejara by Sein Lyan Tun – Myanmar | 2017 – 65 min.
Producer: Sein Lyan Tun | Production Status: Pre-Production
Awarded with 7,000,000 KRW

In Myanmar, Religious is very sensitive subject. According to the Buddha Law, NUN can only learn Buddha Literature. A NUN could not go to any of Career Development Institute or Universities. A 14 years old Buddhist NUN, EAINDRA WADI, comes from NAGA Land where can be considered one of the most uneducated and backward people ethnic groups in Myanmar. When she was 5 years old, her parents divorced and left her with Grand-mother. She decided to become a NUN to get free monastic education at NUN Monastery. After 2 years in NUN-Monastery in village, her Headmaster-NUN decided to send her to Yangon “YAMONENAR” NUN-Monastery to study further. Her aim is to become a NUN-Doctor. As being a NUN, She wants to study at University of Medicine and she want to become first ever NUN-Doctor. Will she get a chance to go University of Medicine being a NUN? Will Buddha discipline be changed for Buddhist NUN to become a NUN doctor?

Best Young Korean Director’s Project

A War of Memories by Lee-kil Bo-ra – South Korea | 2017 – 90 min.
Producer: Scarlet Saerom Suh | Production Status: Production
Awarded with 5,000,000 KRW

In central Vietnam, there are people who live on with the memory of the 1968 massacre. Every year in February, incenses are lit to mourn the dead. The survivors still offer a ‘Taihan (Korean military)’ memorial ceremony on the day when all inhabitants of the village were murdered at an instance. In the 1960s, Korea participated in the Vietnam War as an ally of the United States, where they have massacred many civilians. Yet, Korea only remembers the war as a springboard for its following economic growth. Between Vietnam and Korea, between 1968 and 2016, and between the public memory and the private, there lies the memory of state violence. What cannot become ‘history’ belongs to a ‘woman’, a ‘blind’, and a ‘deaf’. There they remain, kindling incense and offering a ritual for the victims. The first thing these ‘survivors’, ‘second generation’, and ‘witnesses’ did when they visited Korea was to embrace the Korean comfort women and to cry together with the bereaved families of the Sewol ferry disaster. The memories of those who have survived still hover around us, failing to become public memories. The memories of war become the war of memories.

CGV Arthouse Award

Becoming Who I Was by Moon Chang-yong, Jeon Jin – South Korea | 2016 – 100 min.
Producer: Jeon Jin | Production Status: Post-Production (80)
Awarded with 20,000,000 KRW

A seemingly ordinary boy discovers he is the highest ranking Tibetan monk reincarnated from a past, giving him the noble title of Rinpoche. Displaced in his reincarnation in Ladakh due to the political instability in Tibet, he is separated from his former monastery. Filmed over 8 years, the young reincarnate faces questions of survival, coming-of-age, and serving a sacred order. With one aging godfather on the backdrop of the biting Himalayan Mountains, the Rinpoche sets on a journey to find his place in the world.

Docedge Kolkata Award

A War of Memories by Lee-kil Bo-ra – South Korea | 2017 – 90 min.
Producer: Scarlet Saerom Suh | Production Status: Production
Awarded  with Accreditation, and hotel accommodation for Docedge Kolkata 2017

In-Kind Support

Post-production | KT&G Sangsang Madang Cinelab

A War of Memories by Lee-kil Bo-ra – South Korea | 2017 – 90 min.
Producer: Scarlet Saerom Suh | Production Status: Production
Awarded with 50% of digital post-production cost. (Term: Not to exceed 2 years)

Optigraph by Lee Won-woo – South Korea | 2017 – 80 min.
Producer: Mun Jeong-hyun | Production Status: Production
Awarded with 50% of digital post-production cost. (Term: Not to exceed 2 years)

My maternal grandfather, who died at the age of 100, asked me to write his autobiography, when he was 99 years old. And, a few years later, I became a filmmaker, and started to do my assignment of long standing with a film camera and a sound recorder. I didn’t know the faces of the grandfather who had been an agent of the OSS, the forerunner to the CIA, and a director of the security police around the start of the Korean War. The United States where he had lived for over 20 years, Burma (Myanmar) he worked undercover, the Provisional Government in China’s Chongqing that he visited as Syngman Rhee’s connection, etc. If I visit these places, could I see the landscapes that he had seen? And had he wanted to change the landscapes of those days? Is my grandfather in the records the same person I have known? I focus the camera on him, adjusting the focal length.

Post-production | Postfin

A War of Memories by Lee-kil Bo-ra – South Korea | 2017 – 90 min.
Producer: Scarlet Saerom Suh | Production Status: Production
Awarded with support DCP mastering

Singing with Angry Bird by Jee Hye-won – South Korea | 2017 – 90 min
Producer: Kim Sun-ah | Production Status: Post-Production (10%)
Awarded with Support DCP mastering & 50% of Color Grading cost.

A popular Korean opera singer started the Banana Children’s Choir in Pune, India. His quick temper earned him a nick-name ‘Angry Bird,’ but he has been making significant changes in the lives of his choir children. Frustrated by the lack of support from the parents, the Angry Bird decides to train the parents to sing for a joint concert with their children. Probably the toughest challenge of his life.

English Subtitle, Translation & Captioning | Furmo DT

Little Girl Blue by Hyun Jin-sik – South Korea | 2017 – 90 min.
Producer: Kim Na-rae | Production Status: Production
Awarded with English Subtitle, Translation & Captioning

Ji-hee never had a friend. She has grade 2 intellectual disability, lacking the sociality to mingle with people. She is a delicate girl, who could have been crying alone in her room, if her father did not recommend her to play the guitar. Now she has a dream to be the world-famous guitarist, and she started to play for other people. She gets applauses for overcoming her disability, but her performance is yet too timid and small to move the listeners’ minds. She feels a high wall in the world of arts that demands creativity and she has to fight with herself and her disability once again. She is desperately trying not to go back to her difficult old days, and learns to live with other people in the world.

For Vagina’s Sake by Kim Bo-ram – South Korea | 2017 – 52 min.
Producer: Oh Hee-jung | Production Status: Production
Awarded with English Subtitle, Translation & Captioning

Women are designed to bleed against their will, and this bleeding has been symbolized as mystery, impurity, and inferiority. The history of bleeding goes with the course of history. War, revolution, and economic development defined the new roles of women, and the needs of the times invented new ways of bleeding. As the extension of women’s rights reached a plateau at some point, there has been no advancement since disposable pads and tampons, the virtues of which is to be quick, be unnoticed, be quiet, and be shameful.

The US National Public Radio(NPR) crowned 2015 as the Year of Period, and this big wave of free bleeding movement has arrived in Korea. Women all over the world start to speak with one voice to break the taboo and fight for equality. We are now facing the new era of alternative bleeding; new menstrual products are pouring out of technology and imagination. Youtube star reviewing menstrual products has more than a million subscribers, and politicians start paying attention to bleeding. Now, women talk about bleeding, demand better ways of bleeding, and exercise their right to choose.

Promotion Design Support | Propaganda

The Remnants by Kim Il-rhan, Lee Hyuk-sang – South Korea | 2016 – 133 min.
Producer: Lee Hyuk-sang | Production Status: Post-Production (60%)
Awarded with support general artwork for film promotion.

In October 2015, the evicted residents who had imprisoned on a false charge of killing a policeman assembled in a place for the first time after the Yongsan Disaster six years ago. They had occupied a watchtower against unreasonable redevelopment policies and in protest against violent suppression used by riot police in 25 hours of their sit-in demonstration. Their colleagues had died from an unknown fire, and they became criminals. The delight of meeting again lasts only briefly. The ‘comrades’ rip out cruel words while blaming each other. What happened to them in the interim?

Family In Bubble by Ma Min-ji – South Korea | 2017 – 80 min & 52 min.
Producer: Park Young-soo, Liisa Juntunen | Production Status: Post-Production (15%)
Awarded with support general artwork for film promotion.

My parents were real estate developer and dealers in the 80s. They were able to realize the “middle class dream” thanks to the property market boom in Jamsil, the “B-list Gangnam” where those who dreamed of Gangnam gathered. But after the Asian financial crisis (the so-called “IMF era” in Korea), everything vanished into thin air and our family was damaged to the core. I grew distant from my parents and didn’t want to include them in my life. One day, my parents are told by the landlord to move out because our apartment will soon be reconstructed as a studio. However, my parents are far from worried about finding a new place to live; they are still waiting for a “jackpot” which they hope will help them make a golden comeback to the middle class. I having lived away from my parents for 7 years at the time, take out my camera to investigate the true face of real estate and my family history, which seemed inextricably bound together. Ultimately, I come face to face with a neoliberal era in which my family struggles to gain footing and be a family again.

For Vagina’s Sake by Kim Bo-ram – South Korea | 2017 – 52 min.
Producer: Oh Hee-jung | Production Status: Production
Awarded with support general artwork for film promotion.

Full package Sound Design Support | mediACT

Family In Bubble by Ma Min-ji – South Korea | 2017 – 80 min & 52 min.
Producer: Park Young-soo, Liisa Juntunen | Production Status: Post-Production (15%)
Awarded with support sound mixing.

Optigraph by Lee Won-woo – South Korea | 2017 – 80 min.
Producer: Mun Jeong-hyun | Production Status: Production
Awarded with support all stage of sound work.

Theatrical Release Suport – CGV Arthouse

My Daughter’s Toe Walking by Kwon Woo-jung – South Korea | 2017 – 100 min.
Producer: Kim Ji-hyun | Production Status: Production
Awarded with guaranteed screening for 2 weeks at cinema

Theatrical Release Suport – Artnine

A War of Memories by Lee-kil Bo-ra – South Korea | 2017 – 90 min.
Producer: Scarlet Saerom Suh | Production Status: Production
Awarded with guaranteed screening for 2 weeks at cinema

Theatrical Release Suport – Arthouse MOMO

The Con Artists by Red Choi – South Korea | 2017 – 100 min.
Producer: Red Choi | Production Status: Pre-Production
Awarded with guaranteed screening for 2 weeks at cinema

Theatrical Release Suport – Indiespace

A War of Memories by Lee-kil Bo-ra – South Korea | 2017 – 90 min.
Producer: Scarlet Saerom Suh | Production Status: Production
Awarded with guaranteed screening for 2 weeks at cinema

Theatrical Release Suport – Arirang Cine Center

The Remnants by Kim Il-rhan, Lee Hyuk-sang – South Korea | 2016 – 133 min.
Producer: Lee Hyuk-sang | Production Status: Post-Production (60%)
Awarded with guaranteed screening for 2 weeks at cinema

To know more about this festival you can visit the FESTIVAL PROFILE or the official website HERE.